It has spent over $15bn taking control of animation-studio Pixar, buying Star Wars, and the rights to the whole Marvel Universe of comic book heroes.

This strategy is paying off - Star Wars: The Force Awakens is highest grossing film at US box offices, and Rogue One is set to take in more than $1bn.

The company is also releasing less and less films, it created 31 films in 2005 and only 13 in 2016. This is a trend echoed by its rivals.

While this new formula is working for the studio it has contributed to an on-goign trend of studios relying on existing properties to make hits - rather than working from original ideas.

2016's most popular films reflect this trend - only The Secret Life of Pets and Zootopia are based on original stories:

Captain America: Civil War - $1.15bn (Disney)

Finding Dory - $1.03bn (Disney)

Zootopia - $1.02bn (Disney)

The Jungle Book - $966m (Disney)

The Secret Life of Pets - $875m (Universal)

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice - $873m (Warner Bros)

Deadpool - $782m (Fox)

Suicide Squad- $745m (Warner Bros)

Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them - $718m (Warner Bros)

Doctor Strange - $653m (Disney)

This trend is set to continue in 2017. Disney's hopes are pinned to squeals and reboots again with Guardians of the Galaxy 2, Thor: Ragnarok, a new Pirates of the Caribbean film, and Star Wars Episode VIII leading the charge.

So far, Star Wars has been the gift that has kept on giving for the company - it is currently building Star Wars Land - a new theme park in the US and it would be hard to bet against Episode VIII being 2017's top-earner.

Pixar is also set to unleash the third installment in the Cars franchise.

It's not just Disney who are in on the trick - Universal's slate is led by The Fate of the Furious, Despicable Me 3 and a second Fifty Shades title (all squeals).

Meanwhile, Warner is busy preparing Wonder Woman, The LEGO Batman Movie, and Justice League - meaning that Hollywood in 2017 will probably look very similar to Hollywood in 2016.